Translator employing photoconductive panels and electroluminescent panels



May 18, 1965 J. M. BERNSTEIN 3,184,733 TRANSLATOR EMPLOYING PHOTOCONDUGTIVE PANELS AND ELECTROLUMINESCENT PANELS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 14, 1960 m2 tmmcuzm EL 'U 9 IN VEN TOR. JOSEPH M. SEE/VS TE/N S as m: a O a o a a m2 $5555 E [s n: v: mucus ll. 4:!!! Bi 5 53C SE8 2 m 5 E: w $9 k: 5

May 18, 1965 J. M. BERNSTEIN 3,184,733

TRANSLATOR EMPLQYING PHOTOCONDUGTIVE PANELS AND ELECTROLUMINESCENT PANELS Filed Dec. 14, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PC-OOO FIG. 4

INVENTOR. JOSEPH M. BER/VSTE/N BY @J/W United States Patent TRANSLATQR EMPLtiYING lliOTGCGNDUCTB/E PANEL?) AND ELECTRGLUMKNEEWENT PANELS Joseph M. Bernstein, liensenvilie, llllh, assignor to Automatic Electric Laboratories, inc, Northlake, iii, a

corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 14, 1960, Ser. No. 75,6 96 3 Qlaims. (Cl. 340-647) This invention relates to telephone systems employing register-translator-sender arrangements. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved translator for use in a resistor-translator-sender arrangement.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved translator which is compact in size.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved translator which is static in operation.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improved translator which can be expanded to handle increasing system requirements with a minimum amount of changes and additional facilities.

One of the well-known properties of photoconductive material is that the photoconductive material has a high electrical impedance when the photoconductive material is in darkness but a relatively low electrical impedance when light impinges on it.

It is also well-known that an electroluminescent material (a dielectric material such as phosphor) will glow and emit light if an electric field is created between two electrodes separated by the electroluminescent material.

Iit is therefore a still further object of this invention to provide an improved translator using both the properties of photoconductive material and electroluminescent material to perform the decoding and encoding operations of the translator.

A principal feature of this invention as it is embodied in this disclosure is the provision of a decoder unit in the translator which employs a photoconductive panel having a plurality of electrodes thereon, each of which has a number of discontinuities therein, resulting from the property of the photoconductive material, restricting current flow through the electrodes. An electroluminescent panel having a plurality of electrodes thereon is placed in a plane parallel to and in close proximity with the photoconductive panel. All of the electrodes on the electroluminescent panel intersect all of the electrodes on the photoconductive panel, however, only predetermined ones of the electrodes on the electroluminescent panel intersect predetermined ones of the discontinuities in the electrodes on the photoconductive panel. Selection of one out of the number of electrodes on the photoconductive panel is accomplished by selectively energizing certain ones of the electrodes on the electroluminescent panel in accordance with the registered code digits to cause light to be impinged on the discontinuities in the electrodes on the photoconductive panel. A continuous conducting path is established across only one of the electrodes on the photoconductive panel since only one electrode has all of its discontinuities intersected by the energized electrodes on the electroluminescent panel. One or more of the discontinuities in one or more of the other electrodes on the photoconductive panel will be made continuous but not all.

A further feature of the invention as it is embodied in this disclosure is the provision of an encoder unit in the translator which also employs a photoconductive panel and an electroluminescent panel. The electrodes on the photoconductive panel are formed in pairs, each pair constituting a single electrode having a high electrical impedance between them, due to the property of the photoconductive material, restricting current flow through the BJMJEB Patented May 18, 1965 ice pair of electrodes. An electroluminescent panel having a number of electrodes thereon, each of which intersects all of the electrodes on the photoconductive panel, is placed in a plane parallel to and in close proximity with the photoconductive panel and functions as the light source for impinging light on the areas between the electrode pairs.

in FIG. 5 is shown an assembly including a photo-' conductive panel, a mask and an electroluminescent panel, which is disclosed and claimed in the W. A. Reimer Patent 3,136,894, issued June 9, 1964, assigned to the same assignee. The mask assembled between the photoconductive panel and the electroluminescent panel selectively allows the light emitted by the electroluminescent panel to impinge on the photoconductive material between predetermined ones of the pairs of electrodes on the photoconductive material to form a tw'o-out-of-five code repre sentation of the translated digits. The two-out-of-five output code of the encoder unit controls the operation of the sender in sending corresponding routing digits to the selector to operate the sender and its associated switching apparatus to select a trunking route to the called station.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with other objects and features not specifically mentioned, will best be understood by reference to the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates the invention as it is embodied in a register-translator-sender arrangement for a telephone system.

FIG. 2 shows the construction of the photoconductive panel.

FIG. 3 shows the construction of the electroluminescent panel.

FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of the photoconductive and electroluminescent panels in the decoder unit, according to the invention.

FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of the encoder unit.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the translator card holder and a translator card.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, the calling oflice as illustrated serves a plurality of subscriber lines, including the subscriber line MP3 extending to the subscriber station 101. The calling ofiice also includes a plurality of line circuits respectively terminating the subscriber lines and includes the line circuit terminating the subscriber line 103. In addition, the oiiice comprises a distributor 108 operatively connected to the line circuits therein and to a plurality of finder-primary selector groups. The finderprirnary selector group illustrated includes a finder 107 and a primary selector 111 of which the finder 107 includes a wiper set 109 having access to the line circuits 165, etc., and a primary selector 111 includes a wiper set 113 having access to a plurality of register-translatorsender groups and includes a wiper set 112 having access to trunks extending to distant telephone ofiices. The wiper sets 109 and 112 may be of the Strowger type, whereas the wiper set 113 may be of the conventional rotary type.

Referring specifically to the primary selector 111, the apparatus included therein is of conventional arrangement and adapted to receive digits from the calling subscriber station, to transfer these digits to an idle register-translator-sender group, to receive therefrom control signals for operating the wiper set 112 thereof in order to select an outgoing trunk and to transmit thereover further control signals for operating switching apparatus to extend a connection to the called subscriber station in the distant ofiice. Thereafter, the register-translator-sendergroup is released from the primary selector 111 and the calling ml subscriber station is connected through the primary selector to the called subscriber station. The wiper set 113 of the primary selector 11 1 includes, as illustrated, the Wipers 144-119 operable from the primary selector 111 to rotate step by step in counterclockwise direction across associated contacts in order to select an idle registertranslator-sender group over the wiper 116, thereafter to transmit digits over the wipers 1 14 and 115 to the selected register, to receive switching control signals from the selected sender over the wipers 1 18 and 119, and to receive a release control from the selected sender over the wiper 1-17 whereby the selected register-translator-sender group is released and restored and the selector 1111 connects the calling station 101 through to the called station.

The register-translator-sender group comprises as illustrated in FIGURE 1, a calling register 127, a translator 133, and a sender 160, of which the calling register 127 may be of the type disclosed in U.S. Patent 2,882,345 to A. H. Faulkner and includes a group of three ofiice code registers and a group of four directory number registers. The ofiice code registers are connected through the translator 133 to the sender 160, and the directory number registers are connected by the trunk 123 to the sender 160.

The calling register 127 is accessible to the primary selector 111 over the conductors 120 122, and the sender 160 is accessible to the primary selector 111 over the conductors 123 125.

The office code digits received in the calling register 127 are respectively registered in the office code registers thereof on a decimal basis and are marked accordingly to the groups of conductors 129, 130 and 131, respectively, corresponding to the oflice code registers, whereof the group 129 includes the conductors H41 to H-9, the

group 130 includes the conductors T41 to T-9, and the group 131 includes the conductors U- to U-9.

The translator 133 includes a decoder unit 134 and an encoder unit 135, both of which include a photocond-uctive panel and an electroluminescent panel.

The decoders photoconductive panel has thereon 1000 electrodes PC4100 to PC-999, each of which is staggered to form a number of discontinuities in the electrodes, such as the discontinuities 140 142 in electrode PC4100. In addition, each of the electrodes PC4100 to PC49 0 is connected at one end to the power supply 143 and at the other end, through the medium of the encoder unit 135, to ground. No current will flow through any of the electrodes, however, due to the discontinuities therein.

The decoders electroluminescent panel has thereon three groups of electrodes 136, 137 and 138 including the electrodes EL-H0 to Ell-H9, EL-T0 to EL-T9 and EL- U0 to EL-Uli, respectively which may be characterized as first coordinate electrodes. Each of the electrodes in each of the groups of electrodes 136-138 is connected to one of the conductors in the groups of conductors 129, 130 and 131, respectively, and in addition connected to the power supply 139. For example, the electrode EL- H0 in group 136 is connected to the conductor H41 in the group 129 and to the power supply 139. The conductors in the group of conductors 129 and the electrodes in the group of electrodes 136 represent the hundreds digit of the office code while the .conductors in group 130 and the electrodes in group 137 represent the tens digit of the ofiice code and the conductors in group 131 and the electrodes in group 138 represent the units digit of the ofiice code.

The operation of the decoder unit 134 will be better understood by first referring to the FEGS. 2 and 3 which show the construction of the photoconductive panel and the electroluminescent panel, respectively. In FIG. 2 the photoconductive panel is formed by depositing a photoconductive layer of material 203 on a glass substrate 201 and then placing the staggered electrodes thereon, such as the electrode PC4100. The characteristic property of photoconductive material of having a high electrical resistance in darkness but relatively low electrical resistance t when light is impinged on it is utilized to provide a unique selecting or decoding process. The discontinuities in each of the electrodes, such as the discontinuity 14-0, restricts current flow through the electrodes until light is impinged on them to thereby lower their electrical resistance to form continuous conducting paths across the electrodes. By selectively impinging the light on predetermined ones of the discontinunities in the electrodes a continuous conducting path across only one of the electrodes is established. For example, .by selectively impinging light on the discontinuities 140-142 in the electrode PC4100 a continuous conducting path is established across that electrode.

Referring now to FIG. 3 which shows the construction of the electroluminescent panel, a reference base electrode 303 is deposited on a glass substrate 301, a dielectric layer 305 such as phosphor, is placed over the base electrode 301, and a series of top electrodes, such as electrode EL- H0, placed thereon. If a potential is established between the reference base electrode 303 and the top electrodes an electric field is set up which will cause the dielectric material to emit light. By establishing the base electrode 303 at some potential and selectively energizing one of the top electrodes the dielectric material immediately surrounding the energized top electrode is caused to glow and emit light. This characteristic property of the dielectric material is utilized to provide the light source for selectively impinging light on the discontinuities in the electrodes on the photoconductive panel. The top electrodes, such as electrode E1410, are made either transparent so that the light passes through the electrodes or very narrow in width so that the light passes around the edges of the electrodes.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the decoder unit 134 is formed in the disclosed embodiment by placing the electroluminescent panel in a plane parallel to and, preferabiy, in contact with the pliotoconductive panel to prevent light dispersion, and with the electrodes on the two panels perpendicular to one another. The arrangement of the electrodes on the two panels when the panels are arranged according to this invention is better shown in FIG. 1. It may be observed that all of the electrodes in the groups of electrodes 136, 137 and 138 on the electroluminescent panel intersect all of the electrodes PC-00t1 to PC-999 on photoconductive panel, however only predetermined ones of the electrodes in the groups of electrodes 136, 137 and 133 intersect predetermined ones of the discontinuities in the electrodes PC4100 to PC 999. That is, for example, the electrode PC4100 is the only electrode having its discontinuities 140, 1141 and 142 intersected by the electrodes EL-H0, EL-T0 and ELU0, respectively. One or more of the discontinuities in the other electrodes PC- 001 to PC-999 will be intersected .by the electrodes EL- H0, EL-T0 and EL-U0 but the electrode PC4100 is the only electrode on the photoconductive panel having all of its discontinuities intersected. When the conductors H41, T41 and U41 extending from the office code registers are marked, the associated electrodes Elf-Hi1, ELT0 and EL-Ut1 are energized and establish a potential difference between the base electrode and each of the electrodes EL-H0, ELT0 and EL-U0 causing the dielectric material material to emit light which is then impinged on discontinuities 140, 14 1, and 14 2, respectively, reducing the electrical resistance of the photoconductive rnaterial and a continuous conducting path is established across the electrode PC4100.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6 in conjunction with FIG. 1, the construction and operation of the encoder unit may be understood. The encoder unit 135 includes an electroluminescent panel 501 formed on a glass substrate 502 with a dielectric layer 503, such as phosphor, between three reference base electrodes 152, 153 and 154 and 1000 top electrodes EL4100 to EL999, each of which is perpendicular to and intersected by the three base electrodes. Each of the 1000 electrodes ELL-000 to EL @9 is individually connected at one end, by what may be s eaves termed as address conductors, to one of the electrodes PC-000 to PC-999, and at the other end to ground. It may therefore be observed that when the electrical resistance of the discontinuities in one of the electrodes PC-Otitl to PC 999 is lowered to establish a continuous conducting path across the electrode current will flow from ground, through the connected one of the electrodes EL- 000 to EL-999, through the electrode having the continuous conducting path, to the power supply 143. The particular electrode, for example, electrode EL-Gtltl, is energized to establish a potential difference between it and the three base electrodes 152, 153 and 154. The resulting electric field which is set up causes the dielectric material to glow and emit light.

The encoders photoconductive panel 507 has a photoconductive layer 509 deposited on a glass substrate 508 with three groups of electrodes comprising the tive pairs of second coordinate electrodes PC-Hl to PC-HS, PC-Tl to PC-TS and PC-Ul to PC-US, respectively, formed thereon. The groups of electrodes represent the hundreds, tens and units digits, respectively, of the ofiice code digits. Each of the pairs of electrodes, for example, the

pair of electrode PC-H1 including electrodes 147 and 148,

constitutes a single electrode having a high electrical resistance, due to the photoconductive material, between them. One of the electrodes in each of the pairs of electrodes is individually connected at one end to one of the conductors in one of the groups of conductors 144, 145 and 146 extending to the sender 160. For example, electrode 148 ot the pair of electrodes PC-H1 is connected to the conductor 161 extending to the sender 160. The other electrode in each of the pairs of electrodes is connected to the power supply 151, tor example, electrode 147 of the electrode pair PC-Hl is connected to the power supply 151. Furthermore, it may be observed that the second coordinate electrode pairs in each of the groups of electrodes is arranged to overlay only one of the reference base electrodes, lfOl example, the group of electrode pairs comprising the electrode pairs *PC-Hl to PC-HS overlays the base electrode 152.

The ofiice code digits are represented to the sender 160 on a two-out-ohfive code basis by means of the translator cards and the translator card holder which are preferable of the type disclosed and claimed in the W. A. Reimer, Patent 3,136,894, issued June 9, 1964. The translator cards and the translator card holder 504 are inserted between the electroluminescent panel 5tl1 and the photoconductive panel 507. The translator cards have a number of holes punched in them to selectively allow light from the dielectric material to impinge on any two of the five possible pairs of electrodes in each of the groups of paired electrodes, that is, to impinge on the photoconductive materials between any two of the five possible pairs of electrodes in each of the groups of paired electrodes to thereby reduce the electrical resistance between two of the pairs of electrodes. For example, assumed first coord-indate that electrode Ell-000 is energized to cause the dielectric material immediately surrounding the electrode to glow, the punched holes 155 and 156 in the translator card 170 allow the light to impinge on the photoconductive material between the second coordinate electrode pairs PC-H1 and PC-H3 reducing the electrical resistance between the electrodes 147-148 and 1494.56, respectively. Current then flows from ground in the sender, over conductors 161 and 162, through the electrodes in the electrode pairs PC-Hl and PC-l-l3, respectively, to the power supply 151.

The translator card holder 504, as described in the above-mentioned Reimer patent, has a number of grooves, such as groove 505, for the insertion of the translator cards, such as the translator card 170. This facilitates changing the output code since to change the code it is only necessary to remove the one translator card and to insert a new translator card having the proper holes punched therein. The translator cards may be either cardboard or thin metal strips which are slightly wider than the electrodes on the electroluminescent panel dill so that when they are placed in the grooves in the trans lator card holder 504, if no holes were present in them, no light would fall on the photoconductive panel St. The holes in the translator card holder 504 are in the form of a frustrum of a cone, as shown in FIG. 6. The holes are tapered for ease of molding and to somewhat focus the light emitted from the electroluminescent panel. In addition, the holes are smaller than those in the translator cards and spaced so as to allow [for slight errors in punching accuracy.

The sender 160, which may be of the type disclosed in the A. H. Faulkner Patent 3,024,315, issued March 6, 1962, is operated in accordance with the two-out-ot-five markings on the conductors of the groups 144, and 146, to send corresponding routing digits to the selector 111 whereupon the selector 111 and the switching apparatus accessible therefrom are operated to select a trunking route to the called station. Thereafter the sender is operated over the trunk 128 to cause the directory number digits stored in the directory number registers of the called register 127 to be transmitted over the selected trunking route.

The operation of the translator 133 in accordance with the invention will be better understood by considering a call initiated at the subscriber station 1111 to be extended to a subscriber station in a distant office, and the disposal of that call in the telephone system.

Now assuming that a call is initiated at the subscriber station 191 to be extended to a subscriber station on distant exchange, the line circuit 1115 is operated to mark the subscriber line 103 as calling to the finder-selector groups having access thereto and to mark the subscriber line 103 as busy to connectors having access thereto. Additionally, the line circuit operates the distributor 1118 to cause a finder in an idle finder-selector group, for example, the tinder 167, to locate the subscriber line 103 marked as calling thereto. At the same time that the finder 107 is operated by the distributor 1%, the primary selector 111 associated therewith operates to cause the wiper set 113 to complete a connection to an idle register-translatorsender group. Specifically, the wiper 116 is rotated step by step in a counterclockwise direction over its associated contacts until it completes a connection to a conductor having battery potential thereon. Assuming that the conductor 122 is the first control conductor having battery potential marked thereon, the wiper 116 engages the contact terminating the control conductor 122 and the other wipers 144, etc., of the wiper set 113 complete connections to the corresponding contacts thereof. When the finder 1G7 seizes the calling subscriber line 103, a connection is completed from the subscriber station 101 through the tinder 107 and the primary selector 111 to the call register 12.7 whereby the call register is activated and dial tone is I returned to the calling station 1011.

Thereafter, the party at the calling subscriber station 101 receives dial tone and proceeds to dial the called number. For purposes of illustration assume that the called number is composed of seven (7) digits of which the first three digits are the otlice code digits identifying the distant oilice in which the called subscriber station is located and the last four digits are the directory number digits identifying the subscriber station to the called office. Now, assuming that the party at the calling station 161 dials a number of which the first three digits (the ofiice code digits) are 111, the calling register 127 is operated, in a manner essentially as described in the A. H. Faulkner Patent 2,882,345, issued August 14, 1959, to register the digits 111 in the oifice code registers thereof and to mark the registered numbers respectively to the marking conductors H-l, T 1, and U 1 in the groups of conductors 129-131, respectively, by placing ground on these conductors.

The groups of conductors 129-131 extend to the decoder unit 134 in the translator 133 wherein the registered otfice ens-ares code digits are translated to routing digits for controlling the selector ill and the switching apparatus accessible thereto.

Considering now the operation of the translator 133, and specifically the decoder unit 134 of the translator 153, the ground potential marking conductors H-tl, T-d and U cause current to flow from ground through the marking conductors H-tl, T-tl and U-tB, through the electrodes Ell-Ht}, EL-Ttl and EL Jt), to the power supply 13? thereby energizing the electrodes ELHtl, EL lu and EL- UtP. A potential difference is established bet veen the base electrode and the electrodes ELI I@, EL-Ttl and EL Jtl and the resulting electric field set up causes the dielectric material to glow and emit light which is then impinged on the discontinuities Edd-142 respectively. With the light from the energized electrodes impinged on the discontinuities 140-142 a continuous conducting path is established across the electrode PCdltltl and current will flow from ground through the electrode EL -0fifl on the electroluminescent panel in the encoder 135, and an interconnecting address conductor, through the electrode roses, to the power supply 143. The electrode Pikdfiti on the photoconductive panel in the decoder 135 will be the only electrode having a continuous conducting path across it since it is the only electrode having the light impinged on all three of the discontinuities in the electrode. The current flow over the above-described path energizes the electrode EL-tltltl on the electroluminescent panel in the en coder 135. The potential difference established between the base electrodes 152-154 and the electrode EL-Gtitl sets up an electric field and the dielectric material will then glow. The glow from the dielectric material immediately surrounding the electrode EL-tltid passes through the holes 155-175 in the translator card 179 and is impinged on the photoconductive material between the electrode pairs PC-Hit, PC-HS, PC-Tl, PCT5, PCU2 and PC-US reducing the electrical resistance of the material. With the conductors 161, 162, 163, 16d, 165 and 166 at ground potential current will now flow through the conductors, through the electrode pairs PChl, PC-HB, PC-Tl, PC-T5, PC-U2 and PC-U5, respectively, to the power supply 151 to present the three digits of the otfice code routing digit to the sender 16% on a tWo-out-of-five code basis. Thereafter the sender let) sends the otfice code routing digits and the directory number digits registered in the directory number registers of a calling register 12? and sends an end of send pulse to the selector 111 whereby the calling register .l27 and sender lot} are released in the manner as described in detail in the A. H. Faulkner Patent 3,024,315, issued March 6, 1962. Thereupon the ground potential markings on the conductors of the groups 129431 are removed and the electrodes EL-Hu, EL-Ttl and EL-Utl are deenergized and the continuous conducting path for electrode PC-tltltl is broken and the two-out-ofdive code markings for the office code routing digit are removed from the conductors of the group 144, 145 and 146. At this time the register-translator-sender group is completely released and restored and is available to any other selector having access thereto.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are illustrative of the application of this invention. Numerous other arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A translator for translating markings on a plurality of address conductors into corresponding markings on a plurality of output conductors, said translator comprising: an electroluminescent panel and a photoconductive panel positioned in parallel planes and in close proximity to each other, said electroluminescent panel having on one side thereof reference electrode means, and on the opposite side thereof a plurality of first-coordinate electrodes each con nected to one of said address conductors, so that upon application of a marking potential to one of said address conductors a potential difference is set up between the corresponding first-coordinate electrode and said reference electrode means, causing a line of light to be emitted by said panel along said first-coordinate electrode, and said photoconductive panel having a plurality of second-coordinate electrode pairs thereon, each of the first electrodes of each said second-coordinate pair being connected to one of said output conductors, each of the second electrodes of each said pair being connected to a certain potential, the electrodes of each said pair being spaced from each other so as to normally have a relatively high electrical impedance between them, and said translator also comprising a plurality of physically separate, individually exchangeable masking strips, one for each address, said strips interposed between said panels, each said strip adjacent and extending along a corresponding one of said first-coordinate electrodes, each said first-coordinate electrodes independently associated with only one of said addresses and each said strip having a plurality of apertures therein for selectively allowing the light emitted along the corresponding line to impinge on predetermined ones only of said pairs of second-coordinate electrodes, so as to produce a relatively low impedance between the electrodes of said predetermined pairs and thereby mark the corresponding output conductors with said certain potential.

2. A translator for translating markings on a plurality of sets of input conductors, each said set corresponding to a digit of a multi-digit code, into corresponding markings on a plurality of output conductors, and comprising:

decoder means for converting said multi-digit input code markings into a single marking on a plurality of individual address conductors;

and also comprising a translator matrix including an lectroluminescent panel and a photoconductive panel positioned in parallel planes and in close proximity to each other, said electroluminescent panel having on one side thereof reference electrode means, and on the opposite side thereof a plurality of first-coordinate electrodes, each connected to one of said address conductors, so that upon application of a marking potential to one of said address conductors under the control of said decoder means a potential difference is set up between the corresponding firstcoordinate electrode and said reference electrode means, causing a line of light to be emitted by said panel along said first-coordinate electrode, and said photoconductive panel having a plurality of secondcoordinate electrode pairs thereon, each of the first electrodes of each said second-coordinate pair being connected to one of said output conductors, each of the second electrodes of each said pair being connected to a certain potential, the electrodes of each said pair being spaced from each other so as to normally have a relatively high electrical impedance between them, and said translator matrix also including a plurality of physically separate, individually exchangeable masking strips, one for each address, said strips interposed between said panels, each said strip adjaeent and extending along :1 corresponding one of said first-coordinate electrodes, each said first-coordinate electrodes independently associated with only one of said addresses, and each said strip having a plurality of apertures therein for selectively allowing the light emitted along the corresponding line to impinge on predetermined ones only of said pairs of second-coordinate electrodes, so as to produce a relatively low impedance between the electrodes of said predetermined pairs and thereby mark the corresponding output conductors with said certain potential.

3. A translator as claimed in claim 2, wherein said decoder means comprises a decoder matrix including an elec trolumincscent panel and a photoconductive panel positioned in parallel planes and in close proximity to each 9 other, said electroluminescent panel having on one side thereof reference electrode means, and on the opposite side thereof a plurality of sets of first-coordinate electrodes each connected to one of said input conductors so that upon application of a marking potential to one of said input conductors a potential difference is set up between the corresponding first-coordinate electrode and said reference electrode means, causing a line of light to be emitted by said panel along said first-coordinate electrode, and said photoconductive panel having a plurality of second-coordinate electrodes thereon, each of said secondcoordinate electrodes being connected at one end to a corresponding one of said address conductors and at the other end to a certain potential, and each having at the projected intersections with predetermined ones of said first-coordinate electrodes discontinuities normally providing a relatively high electrical impedance therein so that the light along said predetermined first-coordinate electrode impinging on said discontinuities produces a relatively low impedance lengthwise of said second-coordinate electrode, thereby to mark the corresponding address conductor with said certain potential.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Operation of the Card Translation, Bell Laboratories Record, March 1955, pages 93-97.

Photorectifier Plates Save Space, Cut Costs, Electronic Design, Apr. 15, 1959, pages 26, 27.

MALCOLM A. MORRISON, Primary Examiner.

L. MILLER ANDRUS, WALTER L. LYNDE,

Examiner's. 

1. A TRANSDUCER FOR TRANSLATING MARKING ON A PLURALITY OF ADDRESS CONDUCTORS INTO CORRESPONDING MARKINGS ON A PLURALITY OF OUTPUT CONDUCTORS, SAID TRANSLATOR COMPRISING: AN ELECTROLUMINESCENT PANEL AND A PHOTOCONDUCTIVE PANEL POSITIONED IN PARALLEL PLANES AND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO EACH OTHER, SAID ELECTROLUMINESCENT PANEL HAVING ON ONE SIDE THEREOF REFERENCE ELECTRODE MEANS, AND ONE THE OPPOSITE SIDE THEREOF A PLURALITY OF FIRST-COORDINATE ELECTRODES EACH CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID ADDRESS CONDUCTORS, SO THAT UPON APPLICATION OF A MARKING POTENTIAL TO ONE OF SAID ADDRESS CONDUCTORS A POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE IS SET UP BETWEEN THE CORRESPONDING FIRST-COORDINATE ELECTRODE AND SAID REFERENCE ELECTRODE MEANS, CAUSING A LINE OF LIGHT TO BE EMITTED BY SAID PANEL ALONG SAID FIRST-COORDINATE ELECTRODE, AND SAID PHOTOCONDUCTIVE PANEL HAVING A PLURALITY OF SECOND-COORDINATE ELECTRODE PAIRS THEREON, EACH OF THE FIRST ELECTRODES OF EACH OF SAID SECOND-COORDINATE PAIR BEING CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID OUTPUT CONDUCTORS, EACH OF THE SECOND ELECTRODES OF EACH SAID PAIR BEING CONNECTED TO A CERTAIN PO- 